Chandrakant I Pushram
Chandrakant I Pushram was the sixty-sixth monarch of Srevelle, and the first of the Pushram dynasty. He was a notable patron of the arts and a shrewd diplomat. Early life Chandrakant Pushram was born in 210 DR, near the end of the Lamravan dynasty; he was from one of the most prominent families in the Kilrajate of Dhinta, and so while he was not expected to become a king, he was encouraged to become prominent in the Four Srevellic Arts. Of the Arts, Chandrakant took most closely to music, and he began entering many tournaments in the field; this brought him to the attention of Sultan Brijesha Burghana, who commissioned numerous tournaments during his reign. Chandrakant's first tournament victory came in 230, for a lute piece titled "Woman of the Mountain Flowers." As he came of age, Chandrakant also became a socialite, interacting frequently with many of Srevelle's other prominent personages. He maintained a generally amiable demeanor that made him popular among the nobility, and so when Abhay Gowansara died in 232, Brijesha selected Chandrakant as his chosen successor. As the heir to the throne, Chandrakant decided to begin studying administration, and retreated somewhat from the public eye in order to familiarize himself with popular political-theory texts. Later in the 230s, he also went on a tour of Srevelle, visiting many of the state's powerful aristocrats to get a sense of the issues currently affecting the sultanate. Reign In 242, Brijesha Burghana died, and Chandrakant was crowned as the Sultan of Srevelle. He soon began a program of tournaments, seeking to create continuity from Brijesha's reign; however, Chandrakant's principal interest was music, and so he started to particularly patronize the winners of musical tournaments. He also sought to broaden the role of music in society, and so he began funding the writing of operas and musicals. In his foreign policy, Chandrakant followed his predecessor by providing military and financial support to Hembore. The first Hemborite lamane, Opukwe Nzarbarimb, died early in Chandrakant's reign; however, Chandrakant developed a close personal friendship with Nzarbarimb's son and successor Sokoni. Sab Elai was continuing to decline, and launched several raids on northeastern Srevelle in a gambit to sustain its finances. Chandrakant was generally slow to respond to these raids, drawing criticism, but his alliance with Sokoni helped ensure the integrity of the border. As part of his diplomatic program, Chandrakant exchanged a number of gifts with other rulers; he was particularly interested in exotic animals, and maintained a sizable menagerie of animals from the highly biodiverse Kussian north. These included parrots and monkeys from Wam, as well as giraffes from the Odatho Plains and— his favorite— a rhinoceros from Patrevia, which he named "Ralprani." These animals would ultimately lead to Chandrakant's death; in 257, he was bitten by a monkey, and the resulting infection caused Chandrakant's health to rapidly deteriorate and fail completely. Legacy Although he is well remembered by the general public in the post-Srevellic states, historians have a more mixed view of Chandrakant as a monarch. Critics, citing Chandrakant's unambitious agenda and his general adherence to Brijesha Burghana's policies, claim that Chandrakant was simply an artist with no particular aptitude or desire for rulership. By contrast, Chandrakant's supporters emphasize his diplomatic acumen and popularity with the realm; in this argument, Chandrakant was important not as a visionary but as a preserver of continuity and stability in Srevelle. Personal life As a prominent tournament competitor, Chandrakant was highly popular even before becoming the heir; he courted several women before ultimately marrying Abha Brindhal in early 231. The pair was close, and they had five children, beginning with a daughter— Kalyani— in 233. They traveled widely during this period, taking their children to feasts and ceremonies with them, but this pattern would be suddenly disrupted in 239 when their son Brijesha died in infancy. This shook both Chandrakant and Abha badly, and the pair largely ended their national touring afterward. Chandrakant pushed his children to become prominent in the Four Arts; after his own history, he had concluded that a formal political education was not necessary for capable rule. This became a source of tension between Chandrakant and his son Bhaskara, who was much more interested in economics than in the arts. Category:Srevellics Category:Dhintaks Category:Pushram Family Category:Monarchs